Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 544
"There are not many people left..."

Almost at the same time, when Zhu Ciran went to Zhongzhou under the escort of Qi Wulong, someone in the official workshop in the capital spoke softly, and asked several people to lightly sit on the table as a gesture of applause.

Li Demao, who was the No. [-] person of the Yanshan faction staying behind in the capital, was not as flustered as outsiders when faced with the news of the death of the Qin family.

Not only him, it should be said that many Yanshan officials in his courtyard were not so flustered.

Ten Yanshan officials sat around the narrow meeting hall, all of them were in the presence of gods, and no one spoke, but seemed to be waiting for someone to arrive.

However, looking at the smiles on the corners of their mouths, it was obvious that they were quite happy with the news of the Qin family's death.

This is not to say that they hope that the Qin family's Shuangbi will die. After all, they have also been educated to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic. They respect the Qin family. I am very happy from the bottom of my heart.

The emperor's capital is running out, and the king of Qi's capital is also running out...

Thinking of this, everyone in the Yanshan School felt a lot more at ease.

When they were comfortable, the door of the small courtyard was opened, and Cheng De, who was wearing a plain Taoist robe, walked in.

"..." Looking at Chengde's plain clothes, many officials showed displeasure, or a bit of sarcasm.

But these expressions disappeared suddenly when Chengde stepped into the hall.

After Cheng De came in, he nodded to Li Demao who was sitting on the right of the main seat, as a greeting, and then sat on the first left.

After he sat down, the ten officials from the Yanshan faction sat up a little bit, signaling that they were listening.

Cheng De glanced at the crowd, and he was not surprised, the current Yanshan faction is indeed developing very rapidly.

The 12 people sitting here are all Beijing officials of the fourth grade or above. It can be said that they are the 12 people with the highest official positions and the most real power in Beijing Yanshan.

"The death of King Zhongzhou and King Youyang is a misfortune for the country. The local officials in Sichuan still have to go to express their condolences. After all, many children of the Qin family are more inclined to us."

As soon as Cheng De opened his mouth, he expressed his opinion, and this opinion also won the approval of everyone.

The further weakening of the imperial power made them happy, but they also regretted the death of the Qin family's double walls. This was not a contradiction.

"After this incident, there shouldn't be too much mobilization of the Western Army. I heard that His Highness has already ascended the ranks and enshrined Wu Longbo and Shi Zhubo as marquises."

"The two old generals are in charge of the place. The Qin family can't disperse, and we didn't intervene. Don't miss out on the benefits and cause a commotion."

Chengde's judgment and words are completely fine. Although in the eyes of many people, the death of the Qin family will cause a lot of shocks, but for the Yanshan faction, the group of officials above the fourth rank and above, they are very aware of the power of the Qin family. won't come loose.

Not to mention that the older generation Wulonghou Qin Minping and Shizhuhou Qin Liangyu are still there, but if there is Ma Xianglin in the second generation of the Qin family, it will be difficult for this family to be broken up.

Although Qin Gongming, Qin Yiming, and Qin Zhongming couldn't afford to be a leader, they had no problem fighting under Ma Xianglin.

The Western Army's support for Zhu Youxiao is still there, and at least there will be no problems in the next 30 years, but this support will gradually weaken, just like the Mu family in the early Ming Dynasty.

"On the side of the Western Army, it is estimated that there will be some vacant positions for the generals and generals this time."

"I looked at the memorial. Lu Qin, Yang Zhaoji and other six generals all begged to be appointed this year."

"These are basically veterans from before the first year of the apocalypse. After they quit, there will be many vacant positions. Is there anyone in the army who is worthy of recommendation?"

Cheng De asked everyone, and everyone heard the words and began to discuss in whispers.

"Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin, Li Zijing and others who graduated in the sixth year of Tianqi are good, but it's a pity that they are already the generals of the frontier fortress."

"Yang Zhan, who graduated in the tenth year of Tianqi, is more than seven feet tall. He ranked first in tactics, marching, logistics, and strategy in the same year, and he is already a general. He can be promoted as a general."

"That said, Zeng Ying, who graduated from Apocalypse in 15, is also pretty good. Although she is young, she has already become a defensive player in the first year of her tenure. You can wait and see."

"Wang Xiang, who has been in the 14th year of Tianqi, is also good, and he can fill in the position of general."

"Milayin, who graduated from Hexi Tianqi in 13, is good. He is now a general and can be transferred to any general."

"Gao Jie from Shaanxi in the same year is also good, and he can be transferred to serve as the general soldier."

"And Han Jingtong from Jiangxi is also good..."

In the small meeting hall, some officials recommended the generals they were paying attention to. Seeing that there were so many candidates, Cheng De was no longer nervous. He waved his hands and said, "Let's make a list. The Fifth Army Commander's Mansion will recommend you."

Chengde's words made everyone nod their heads, and the next second he stood up and said:

"Be more stable during this time, and wait for the county kings in the palace to grow up."

After all, Cheng De walked towards the outside of the courtyard without waiting for everyone to speak, and Li Demao and others got up and left the venue one after another seeing this.

For example, the current incident is not only staged in this small meeting hall, but also staged in Gu Mansion and Shi Mansion respectively.

All the governor's houses knew that the sky had changed, and they recommended generals to the governor's houses of the five armies one after another, and the names of these generals were sorted out and placed on Zhu Youjian's desk on the [-]th.

It's just that Zhu Youjian's condition is not good at the moment.

Perhaps it was because of long-term exhaustion, or because of the deaths of Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan. In short, shortly after the news reached the capital, Zhu Youjian caught a cold.

From the tenth to the fifteenth day of the lunar new year, he had been ill in bed, which was why he did not go to Zhongzhou in person, but sent Zhu Ciran to go.

After resting for six days, Zhu Youjian, who was in better health, sat in the Chengyun Hall again. In the entire hall, the only thing to be thankful for may be that after Zhu Youxiao learned that Zhu Youjian had contracted a cold, he ordered people to take these few people away. Today's memorials have all been sent to the Midsummer Palace.

Therefore, when he was sitting in his seat, the only thing in front of him was the list of generals that had just been handed over by the Commander's Mansion of the Five Armies.

Looking at this list, Zhu Youjian didn't know what to think.

"As soon as I left, did you start thinking about recommending someone..."

Holding the memorial in his hand, Zhu Youjian, who was wearing a big fur, felt a little uncomfortable.

Seeing him like this, Wang Chengen felt very uncomfortable, and bowed to comfort him:
"Your Highness, the governors are only doing it for state affairs, so don't take it too seriously."

"If it's just for state affairs, why is it not Sun Yingyuan, Man Gui, and Qi Yuangong who went to Shangshu, but Huang Fei and the governors of various prefectures?"

Zhu Youjian threw the directory on the table, and Wang Chengen was also asked by him, not knowing how he felt.

Obviously, the three of Sun Yingyuan and Qin Bangping have feelings for each other, and they can't do the thing of grabbing the position when someone dies. reason.

"Has Qi Wulong received Ran'er?" Zhu Youjian leaned on the table and asked, and Wang Chengen nodded in response:

"I received it. I have already arrived at the border of Pingyue, and I should be able to reach Zhongzhou within [-] days."

"That's good..." Zhu Youjian felt a little relieved when he heard that Qi Wulong had received Zhu Ciran.

"Your Highness...Although it's inappropriate to say that, His Royal Highness is still young, and if he goes to express his condolences, will it not be handled properly..."

Wang Chengen hesitated to ask, he knew very well that the "condolence" was only on the surface, but in fact Zhu Youjian asked Zhu Ciran to win the hearts of Qin and Ma.

But Wang Chengen was worried, what if the children of the Qin and Ma clans were rebellious, or if Zhu Ciran didn't handle it properly?
"He's almost fifteen, and it's time to go through some things and deal with some things."

Zhu Youjian was a little tired in his words. He only hoped that his elder nephew would be more sensible, not seeking innovation, but seeking stability in governance.

Zhu Youjian sent him this time after careful consideration, and he just wanted to see what kind of character, attitude, and method Zhu Ciran would use to handle this matter.

As for the so-called inappropriateness in Wang Chengen's words, Zhu Youjian was not worried.

Ming Dynasty does not lack capable generals, at least not in the next 20 years.

If the descendants of the second and third generations of Qin and Ma went too far, then Zhu Youjian could overwhelm Qin Gongming, Qin Yiming, Qin Zhongming and others with the word "shou filial piety".

When an official's parents die, they usually have to observe filial piety for three years. The reason why Qi Yuangong didn't observe filial piety for three years is because Zhu Youjian gave him "duoqing".

If Zhu Youjian doesn't give up, even Gu Bingqian and Shi Fenglai will be laid off and go home immediately, and come back to work after three years of mourning.

Three years doesn't seem like a long time, but in a place like officialdom, three years is enough to clean up all traces of an official, not to mention that Zhu Youjian still has official schools in his hands, and there are more than 2000 million students who can be used as officials.

Therefore, no matter how Zhu Ciran handles it, whoever wants to give him face must be prepared to observe filial piety for three years.

Zhu Youjian didn't think that Qin Gongming and others would be so stupid, but he also knew that in Zhu Ciran's business, it was inevitable to look at people's faces.

The Western Army and the Southern Army are not bad. If Zhu Ciran went to the Northern Army and the Eastern Army, or the Shangzhi led by Zhu Youjian, then everything depends on the face of the person. Once a person's emotions are not taken care of, I'm afraid it will make the Dudufu of the Five Armies even more dissatisfied with the royal family.

The position of emperor is not easy to sit on, the position of king of Qi is not easy to sit on, and the position of prince is even more difficult to sit on.

After all, it was after Zhu Ciran's birth that the civil servants and generals under Qi Wang's mansion began to target the emperor.

As the "culprit", it is more difficult for them to agree to follow Zhu Youjian to leave Daming to make the officials of the Yanshan faction and the new generation generals of the Five Armed Forces Governor's Mansion look good to Zhu Ciran.

The trip to Chungju is just the beginning, and there are still many things that Zhu Ciran needs to solve. Maybe he can solve political affairs, but military affairs cannot be solved alone.

In the military camp, whoever has the biggest fist is right.

From the current Zhu Ciran's point of view, he obviously does not belong to the side with big fists, so Zhu Youjian had to find him someone with big fists, fortunately he found this person more than ten years ago.

"If I remember correctly, Dingguo should be graduating soon, right?"

Zhu Youjian suddenly asked Wang Chengen, Wang Chengen nodded slightly when he heard the words, and said, "Graduation will be in two months."

"How's the result?" Zhu Youjian picked up the hot tea and blew on it. Wang Chengen smiled and said, "Shuntian and Yingtian are the number one military strategists. According to this result, they should be able to be sent down as guards."

"It's not bad to be on guard..." Hearing that Li Dingguo was going to be sent down as a guard, Zhu Youjian nodded, but then he said:

"It's better to send down the Xiaoqiwei to become a hundred households first."

"This... a hundred households?" Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Wang Chengen was stunned.

The garrison is the official position of the guard battalion, and there are 540 five people in charge, while the hundred households have only a hundred people. Not only the official position, but also the strength of the troops.

"Transfer Cao Wenzhao to serve as Shanyu's commander-in-chief, and Cao Bianjiao is the governor of Shangzhi's governor's mansion, and temporarily leads the four cavalry guards."

Zhu Youjian did not answer Wang Chengen, but made a series of arrangements.

Wang Chengen knew about his arrangement immediately.

Transferring Li Dingguo to the Xiaoqiwei to be a hundred households is a direct fall and a secret promotion. As the top four cavalry guards, the Xiaoqiwei has the most chances of fighting.

Not only that, the Four Cavalry Guards and the Shangzhi Sixteenth Guards knew Li Dingguo and had seen him, and many generals even hugged him.

No one will target him when he goes to the Sixteenth Guards, but he will be taken care of.

As long as he can show his face on the battlefield, even if he has nothing to gain, the generals below will give him military merits and let him be promoted quickly.

Just letting Li Dingguo go to the battlefield made Wang Chengen, who had watched him grow up, a little distressed.

"Sun Kewang from Zhen'an Town, how are you doing?"

Zhu Youjian didn't give Wang Chengen any time to think, and asked how Sun Kewang was doing.

Hearing this, Wang Chengen responded with a bow: "He is the leader of the Northern Region this year."

"The leader of the Northern Territory? Isn't it the current leader of the country? Is there anyone else who can surpass him?" Zhu Youjian was very curious about who could surpass him, and Wang Chengen also said curiously:
"It's not surpassing, but Sun Kewang only supervised Zhen'an Town for half a year, and only made half of his achievements, so he is the leader of the Northland."

"There is no leader of the dynasty this year, and it is divided into two regions, the north and the south. They are considered to be tied for the first place. The one tied with it is Duyinxi from Dading Town, Jiaozhi Prefecture."

"Du Yinxi?" Hearing this name, Zhu Youjian was stunned. He didn't look down on Du Yinxi, but he felt that Du Yinxi's ability in governance was not as good as that of Sun Kewang.

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Chengen replied, and Zhu Youjian heard that Sun Kewang and Du Yinxi's merit documents for this year would also come.

The documents were sent by the officials of the Ministry of Officials half an hour later. After comparing, Zhu Youjian found out that Du Yinxi's achievements were for the whole year, while Sun Kewang's achievements were for half a year.

From this point of view, if Sun Kewang is allowed to be the mayor for a year, then he should be the leader of the Guochao market town this year.

But here is the rule, his tenure is half a year, and Zhu Youjian can't do favoritism and cheat to make him the leader of Guochao Market Town's merits.

"Since he is tied for first place, he should be promoted to the eighth-rank official after this year, right?"

Zhu Youjian held the hot teacup in his hand, but he didn't feel hot at all.

"Return to Your Highness, the Ministry of Officials has already prepared to send him to Michen County, Taining Prefecture to serve as the Prime Minister of Zhengbapin County." Wang Chengen flipped through the documents in his hand and said the result.

"Where's Du Yinxi?" Zhu Youjian took a sip of tea.

"Du Yinxi was transferred to Kunan County, Jiaozhi Champa Prefecture to serve as the county magistrate." Wang Chengen flipped through Du Yinxi's documents, and then responded to Zhu Youjian.

After hearing the words, Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, but did not make any adjustments.

He cannot deny that Sun Kewang and Du Yinxi are talents, but at present they are only talents from one county, and Zhu Youjian will not reuse them if their abilities have not reached the heights in history.

"Did the Ministry of Households deliver this year's tax booklet?"

Zhu Youjian asked about taxes, because according to the time, Daming's annual revenue this year should have been collected and handed over to the Carrier Hall.

"I sent it here, but you were sick in bed for those two days. Long live ordered people to transport all the memorials to Zhongxia Palace, but the servants asked people to keep a copy of the tax book."

While explaining the cause of the matter to Zhu Youjian, Wang Chengen walked to his own desk case, found a few documents from it, walked back to Zhu Youjian, put the documents on the desk case, and said:
"In addition to the documents, there are also collections of documents from South Kunlun, Xiaoxiyang, Qi, the four provinces outside the customs, and the four southern provinces."

"In addition, the general list of prices in Jiangnan and other places after the autumn harvest is also here."

Wang Chengen kept some of the most important documents as backups, because he knew that his highness would read them after he recovered.

Zhu Youjian was a little relieved by this, and at the same time opened the taxation booklet handed over by the Ministry of Household Affairs.

[This year, the number of household registrations in the world is 120, 430 and 790 households, and the population is 320 people. 】

【天下官民田土共930三万九千310九顷83亩，蠲免田土230二万六千四百顷32亩。】

[A total of 230 shi in the land, and a total of [-] to [-] stones, and a total of commercial taxes...]

[This year, the land tax, commercial tax, and the annual income of the twelve divisions total 430, 770, seven taels, four cents, eight cents and five cents. 】

[year branch...]

There are too many cumbersome things, Zhu Youjian skipped a lot, only looked at the population and the number of acres, as well as income and expenditure, and finally set his sights on the balance.

[This year's balance is 91 seven taels. 】

In the year of the catastrophe, not only did the Ming Dynasty not be dragged down, but it achieved a "feat" of nearly 2000 million taels of annual net income.

It's just that Zhu Youjian knows better than anyone else that such a feat came from.

"How's the grain in Changping warehouse selling..."

Zhu Youjian looked at the word "surplus" on the paper of the general book, and felt a burning pain on his face.

"It's almost sold out. There are still 3000 million shi in the south of the Yangtze River, and 9000 million shi in the north."

"The Huangdian still owes 6000 million taels of silver for the purchase of grain. I'm afraid we need to sell all the grain slowly, and then distribute the silver to the farmers."

Wang Chengen responded to Zhu Youjian respectfully, Zhu Youjian was a little silent after listening.

Stabilizing food prices should have been something the court should do, but now the court is making money by stabilizing food prices.

Although Zhu Youjian knew that the money he earned would be returned to the people in the form of work relief, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he thought that the people had to pay for food by themselves under the disaster.

With the simple allocation of resources, Daming has harvested so much tax revenue, and Zhu Youjian knows better than anyone how much the trains and ships contributed.

This year is not the worst time for the disaster, so after seeing the transportation capacity of trains and ships, Zhu Youjian also said to Wang Chengen:
"Let the Ministry of Industry step up the construction of railways, shipyards in various places also speed up the construction of ships, and the speed of coal mining in coal yards must also keep up."

"Yes..." Wang Chengen bowed in response, and Zhu Youjian also looked at the other memorials.

As of the end of September 16, the population of Daming was close to 800 million, the number of fields was close to 400 million, and the per capita arable land was five and a half mu.

From the "per capita" [-] mu in the first year of Tianqi to the current per capita [-] mu, this is not a decline in national power, but a "relatively real" data of Ming Dynasty after a large number of hidden households were traced out.

Zhu Youjian knew very well that the real population of Ming Dynasty had not yet appeared in front of his eyes.

Taking the current population of 800 million as an example, nearly 500 million people were former "foreigners", and the population belonging to Ming Dynasty was only 300 million people.

Looking at it this way, it seems to be very close to the 5000 million population estimated by Zhu Youjian, but the problematic population will increase.

If it is said that four years before the apocalypse, the frontier fortress was still facing the threat of northern captives and Jian captives, then since the sixth year of the apocalypse, Daming has basically maintained the method of expanding and squeezing the war, and the population in the Ming Dynasty has not encountered war at all.

Tens of millions of people were supposed to starve to death, but the plague did not kill tens of millions of people, so the population of Ming Dynasty has actually been growing.

Needless to say, how much population can be increased in ten years. For the current population of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian conservatively estimates it to be around [-] million.

If it is inferred based on this population, the per capita arable land area of ​​Daming is only less than four acres.

Of course, this is data on paper. The real situation is that the number of fields that suffered from disasters or reduced production this year is more than 3000 million mu, of which cash crops account for more than 3000 million mu. The per capita grain of Ming people only reached [-] million mu About a hundred catties.

It seems to have reached the per capita food possession of later generations in the late 70s, but it would be embarrassing to compare the territory.

Daming almost occupies most of the best places in Asia, even including Australia.

However, under the severe drought, the common people still could barely eat enough, and even once the disaster situation expanded, the common people of Ming Dynasty would face the situation of drinking gruel.

But in the same way, as long as the drought is overcome and the 9 million mu of arable land is fully re-produced to feed the [-] million people in Daming with the current crops, then it is really not a problem for the people to eat meat every day.

If Zhu Youjian remembers correctly, before he crossed over, later generations barely reached 9 catties of raw grain per capita, but what can be achieved after the resumption of production of more than 920 million mu of arable land is [-] catties of raw grain per capita.

"There are still seven years..."

Thinking that there are only seven years left before the end of the drought, Zhu Youjian seemed to rekindle his fighting spirit.

He looked at the arable land and population of Shanyu, Modong, Beishan, and Donghai provinces outside the customs and the four southern provinces of Luchuan, Jiaozhi, Jiugang, and Nanzhou, and nodded with satisfaction.

"According to this speed, as long as the investment in tractors continues, the four provinces outside the customs should be self-sufficient in about three years."

"At that time, the third batch of industrial zones will also be fully put into operation, and it seems that the fourth batch of industrial zones will also need to start preparations next year."

Imagining that Ming Dynasty is moving towards industrialization step by step, Zhu Youjian felt a sense of pride in his heart.

The technological level of Ming Dynasty may not be as good as that of the second industrial revolution, and even reached the level of the mid-nineteenth century, but in terms of scale, the scale of Ming Dynasty far exceeds the industrial scale of other countries in the mid-nineteenth century.

It's hard not to be proud that such a grand blueprint has been realized little by little in my own hands.

Zhu Youjian's mood was much happier, and he couldn't help telling Wang Chengen:

"This year's Changping warehouse still needs to purchase additional grain. In addition to the original food shortage in the provinces, an additional 2000 million shi will be purchased and sent to Changping warehouse in the south of the Yangtze River."

"Your maidservant takes orders..." Wang Chengen no longer asked his highness the reason for the Changping granary.

Judging from the arrangement of His Royal Highness this year, it is a stroke of genius to store grain in the north and south of the Yangtze River.

Thinking that His Highness knew that "Little Binghe" could also observe astrology, Wang Chengen already regarded Zhu Youjian as a god-man who could pinch and count.

Not only him, but many ministers felt that Zhu Youjian might have the ability to pinch and count in the novel, otherwise why could he know so clearly where disasters would occur every time, and be able to prevent them in advance?
It's just a pity that they may never know how many lives it took for Zhu Youjian to obtain these news.

　The update this afternoon should still be at six o'clock
　　
　
(End of this chapter)